Rewriten Legend- Picking up the Pieces
by baby-kitsune9
Summary: She didn't know how it happened or why. All she knew was that there was something very, very wrong with the fact that a stranger looking very much like Naruto, the manga character- was leaning over her. Rated M. Naruto- real world OC. read the warnings for chap 3
1. Chapter 1

**As requested by MoonGoddess00-**

 **Here is a new Fem Naruto/? Story.**

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 _She was awash in agony._

 _Deep. Gripping. Bone chillingly terrifying- agony._

 _Her body bruised, bloody, and broken beyond any possible attempts at repair. Her eyes unable to see- because they were no longer there. All that had been left of then was a bloody mess of surgically removed piece. Leaving behind the damaged optic nerve that had been partially ripped out of her sockets leaving behind the hollow space where her once teal colored eyes had been._

 _And yet she still tried to see. She struggled and strained and attempted the impossible despite the pain._

 _Why? You wonder. That question is fairly easy to answer._

 _It had much to do with the sheer amount of terror she was feeling. She knew that she was dying- there was simply no way around that. After what had been done to her it was pretty much guaranteed at this point since she didn't need to see her wounds to be able to feel them and all of the damage that she had been dealt._

 _She could taste her own blood in her mouth, feel it caking her once healthy ivory colored skin. Now it was everywhere. on her, pooling under her, in her stomach and mouth... She doubted that there was anywhere that had been left unbathed in it._

 _The door to the bunker creaked open and she almost whimpered as she heard the heavy footfalls of her murderer drawing near._

 _"Still alive I see." His deep voice coming from somewhere next to her caused her to twitch a bit before realizing what a fucking mistake that was. "Don't worry sweetheart, you're almost out of blood. Just one last thing then you're done." He said to her as she felt the cold bite of metal against the tender skin of her throat._

 _She opened her mouth, attempted to scream, but it only came out as a weak- panicked sounding gurgle as he slit her throat. Spraying what was left of her blood into the air like a fountain as her artery was severed..._


	2. Chapter 2

**As requested by MoonGoddess00-**

 **Here is a new Fem OC/Naruto Story.**

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Azure eyes stared unblinkingly at the scene unfolding before him- unable to tear his eyes from the injured body of the civilian girl that had been found and brought to the village by one of his friends while they had been returning home after a job well done.

The civilian in question was currently being treated by Sakura and Tsunade, which Ino and Shizune present to aid them and give them both chakra if it was needed due to the fact that the injured girl's body was so bad off.

Her injuries ranging from simple broken bones and contusions to ruptured and damaged organs and internal bleeding. He stared. Still unable to look away even as the girl's torn and ratty, dirty rag-like clothing was cut from her body so that Tsunade and Sakura could better access her wounds. Only to draw back once the tattered material was removed with expressions of horror and shock.

Blue eyes narrowed slightly at their reactions as he himself could _see_. It was only for a moment or so, but he still saw. And his blood boiled in his veins in rage.

Never since the ending of the fourth shinobi war ten years ago had he ever seen someone so wounded like this strange girl was.

And the fact that she was just a simple civilian spoke volumes towards the sheer agony and brutality that the girl had been forced to endure. _Christ!_ She would be lucky to wake up once her wounds were treated.

He'd be even more shocked if she awoke with her sanity intact.

"Hokage-sama." His advisor and childhood friend spoke tentatively from somewhere behind him. He didn't move. Didn't even seem to react to Shikamaru's voice- all he could do was _watch and not look away._ Though he didn't understand why.

He was a shinobi after all.

He had been for a majority of his life. Why should the tortured body of some random person bother him? He wondered before a nagging voice in the back of his head whispered, _Because it does. Because you care. She was hurting, scared- possibly even terrified and crying for help that would never come..._

The thought alone disturbed him far more than he would care to admit. Mainly because he understood what that felt like, it was just so damn close to home for him that it had him twisted up in knots. Making his normally healthy looking lightly sun kissed skin take on a peculiarly green shade that made him want to vomit up what he'd had for lunch before being called to the hospital by his Anbu.

Taking note of his peculiar green shaded skin, Shikamaru reached out and lightly laid his hand on the blond man's shoulder and gave it a gently squeeze, understanding that must be difficult for Naruto due to how it made him relive some of the most terrifying memories of his childhood and young adolescent life.

However, he needed his friend to focus.

"Naruto-" He tried again, this time using his friend's name rather than his rank. Naruto turned his head ever so slightly to glance at him. His azure blue eyes appearing to glow eerily in the florescent light. The pupils of his abnormally expressive eyes were slitted.

Making his eyes the only thing visible to show how pissed he was as he said in a low tone.

"What do we know about her so far?"

"According to the person that picked her up, they and their team were on their way back when they heard this loud sound, almost like thunder clapping overhead, and once it died down they heard screaming. They went to investigate since it was close by and they were worried that some innocent bystander may have been jumped by some of the enemy and were being killed. But all they heard screaming was a woman's voice. They got to the scene and found the girl sitting in what looked like a fiery crater on her knees, her eyes staring blankly ahead-"

"Let me guess- Screaming."

"Yup. You guessed it. The guys said that she just wouldn't stop. And she didn't react when they told her to stop so one of them knocked her out before one of the others pointed out how hurt she was. The guy said that even though they didn't know her- it just felt wrong to leave someone without weapons to defend themselves- especially given the extent of her injuries. So they picked her up and came straight back."

"I see." Was all the blond said as Shizune looked towards the glass window separating the ER and the observation room and quickly moved to pull the curtain so that he would no longer be able to see the girl as Tsunade and Sakura worked on her.

But before she could completely close the curtain, he saw the vague action of pale lids fluttering as the girl's head turned ever so slightly as if sensing him somehow standing there, and he saw the slightest sliver of teal colored eyes from under a fringe of sooty colored lashes and tensed up, his breath catching in his lungs as their eyes seemed to lock and hold for just the barest of moments before the connection was broken and he could see her no more.


	3. Chapter 3

**As requested by MoonGoddess00-**

 **Here is your OC/Naruto Story.**

 **BTW. A quick warning.**

 **This chapter may get more than a little dark than most that I've ever written before since it'll contain rape, cannibalism, torture and so on- so those of you who are squeamish, run. Run away now.**

 **The rest of my darling little savages, R &R and let me know how I'm doing.**

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It would take almost three days of alternating between his work and visiting the hospital where the strange civilian was currently resting in the intensive care unit on the far side of the building, in a medically induced coma for the time being so that her body and mind could take some much needed time to heal- before any clues as to who the girl was would even fall into his hands.

And when it did, it came in the form of a piece of paper with the girl's picture, name, age, address ect. along with an plastic case covered DVD that he found strangely, on his desk in his office after returning from the hospital again to finish up some last minute work.

Taking a moment to examine the paper and DVD due to the suspicious circumstances of their strange arrival. He used his chakra to check for seals and traps of some kind before finally coming to the conclusion that perhaps one of his Anbu who had been investigating the area where the girl had been found- had perhaps brought the items and after setting them aside, quickly called Shikamaru to come to his office.

While not entirely trusting of the items- he would much rather have his advisor with him when he decided to check out the DVD before getting around to the paper. After all, the paper covered the basics.

The DVD however, may have contained something far more important.

Like information on just what the hell had happened to her.

He was just setting up his TV and DVD player when Shikamaru barged into his office in a little bit of a tizzy. Possibly because it was the third evening in a week that he had recalled Shikamaru after his normal work hours so that he could help him would something.

And from the look on the shadow user's face, things at home with the little lady must have just been getting good. He didn't think he'd ever seen Shikamaru look so pissed before. If the shadow user had been capable of shooting lasers out of his eyes- there was no doubt in the Naruto's mind that he'd be an incinerated pile of smoldering ash right now.

Not that it mattered since he wasn't offended by the murderous intent that his sexually frustrated friend was releasing as his hissed out in a long drawn breath, "Whaaaaaattttttt?"

Naruto's lips twitched for a second in wry amusement before his expression became somber. "I think someone has been withholding information about the civilian." Shikamaru's murderous intent vanished in an instant. Almost like food set before Choji.

 _Weird._ The blond thought as his friend frowned and asked him why he would think such a thing. It was a well known fact that since the end of the fourth shinobi war- more than eighty nine percent of the village and it's people were completely and utterly loyal to Naruto.

Which was a great deal different from before the war. When there had been internal strife among the heads of each clan not to mention the civilians who had caused uprisings and declared war on the shinobi. There had been traitors (Sauske, Orochimaru, Kabuto, Danzo) just as much as there had been hero's (Itachi, Orochimaru, Sauske).

Honestly just looking back on it all was depressing.

Still... It didn't change much in the way of facts.

Someone had to have been with holding information about the girl. And Naruto wanted to know _why_. Why with hold information and then turn around and deliver it right into his hands? Was whoever it had been feeling guilty? Was this supposed to be an act of remorse for some reason?

He _needed_ to know.

He _needed_ to know the why of things as well as everything else he could figure out about the girl herself. He still didn't really understand why that was aside from the voice in his head telling him that it was his job. But he was quickly beginning to suspect that that wasn't entirely the case.

Yes it was the Hokage's job to screen any people, civilian or otherwise to make sure that they were not a danger to the village or it's people. And yes, he was doing that. But...well he was just slightly more interested in her than he should be- if he dared to admit such a thing to himself.

Which he was sort of having trouble with. He was supposed to remain neutral until he had something substantial. Compassionate when others would be hard, unfeeling and cause far more damage than was necessary.

Shikamaru asked his question again, since he hadn't gotten an reply from the bland the first time, causing Naruto to lift the DVD case and tap it lightly twice with his blunt fingernails, as if to silently reprimand his friend for not even noticing it was in his hand as he placed the disc into his DVD player and then pressed play and waited for something to happen as he took several steps back.

They waited for a moment or so before a shaky picture began to show.

It was of a room just a bit bigger than Naruto's living room at home, and the dim lighting made it somewhat hard for them to see until something was zoomed in on. It was a girl.

Naruto narrowed his eyes as he took note of various things. 1) she was hanging by her wrists from a meat hook in the center of the room. 2) She had been gagged. And 3)... Well he didn't like where this was going already.

 _"Yuki..."_ The sudden sound of a man's voice startled them both somewhat since Naruto felt Shikamaru's fingers suddenly wrap around his shoulder. His blunt nails biting into his skin.

The blond cast his friend a somewhat scathing look but said nothing as the man spoke again.

 _"Yuki... Won't you wake up and scream for me?"_ There was the soft sound of crazed, amused laughter, and it sent a chill down both men's spines. " _Come one Yuki, I know you're playing hard to get- After all it's part of the reason you're still alive."_ The man in the video went on to say before walking over to stand just in front of the girl.

He was naked, from what they could see. His skin pale and sickly looking. He had long-ish dark hair that fell around his shoulders, somewhat obscuring their view. And he slapped the girl. _Hard_ if the way that her whole body jerked was anything to go on.

The girl- no her name was _Yuki-_ Naruto mentally amended, slowly opened her eyes to glare at the person whom had hit her. And Naruto took a slight, shuffling step back. Bumping into Shika who made a slight strangled sound, not noticing any immediate changes in Naruto.

Although if he had dared to look harder, he would have seen the blond's azure blue eyes glowing softly in the darkness.

Yuki had lovely eyes, Naruto thought absently as the faint light from the camera caught the color of them as they had opened to glare. They also held such fire in them. Along with disdain for the one who had touched her.

 _She would make a nice ninja._ Naruto thought distantly as the man reached up to remove the gag from her mouth at the same exact moment that Yuki lashed out. Her knee connecting with the underside of the man's jaw, forcing his head back with enough force to almost snap his neck lick a twig.

Naruto stared wide eyed as Shika let out a low whistle of appreciation. Naruto would have echoed the sentiment but decided against it given the circumstances.

 _"Don't touch me you freak!" Yuki snarled at the man. Only to have him regain his footing and look at her. There was an insane light in his eyes as his blood dripped down his chin from his mouth._

 _"Oh but I will touch you- I'll touch you everyday until I break you..." The madman said almost lovingly as h moved away from her to go and grab some things._

 _The could see the faint glitter of a knife, jagged, sharpened to a fine razor like sharpness that could be used to cleave through flesh and bone without dulling. Next the man pulled a tin of what looked like thumb tacks and broken glass and then some duct tape that he began to wrap around his hands the sticky side out instead of in._

 _Once he was done wrapping both of his hands in the tape he them dipped them into the broken glass and rolled his wrists around a bit to make sure that his knuckled and palms were thoroughly covered before picking up the knife and moving back over to Yuki._

From that point on they had both watched in wide eyed horror and disbelief as the girl had had her clothing removed and had been ripped to pieces by the broken glass covering the man's hands. And when she didn't scream (possibly because she was having trouble catching her breath) the violence would escalate.

It escalated to the point where the man had lowered her a bit so that only the tips of her toes touched the floor of that damned torture chamber she was stuck within, and they watched as the man's raped her repeatedly after he removed one of her organs and ate it right in front of her. Before cumming inside of her and then giving her a sick smile and putting her legs up on his shoulders so that he could put his mouth on her- and both men froze in shock as he bit off part of her neither lips, and greedily drank her blood as she screamed and cried for him to stop.

But it didn't end there.

According to the DVD the torture went on day by day for over a month. In which time he had amputated both of her arms, legs, and removed her eyes until finally when neither of them thought they could take watching anymore. They finally reached the end of the video when they saw her, limbless and eyeless torso laying in the center of the room as the man walked over to her and with that same- _hatefully_ sickening smile- slit her throat.

And then stood there and watched her as she struggled to live while she- The video cut off and Naruto was fairly trembling with rage as he said very softly.

"I need a drink."

To which Shikamaru made a small choking sound before muttering, "I'll join you."

It was clear to both of them that whatever had happened to Yuki was something that she wasn't meant to survive. Which meant that they needed to find the son of a bitch that had done all of those things to her, and kill him _before_ he took another victim.


	4. Chapter 4

**As requested by MoonGoddess00-**

 **Here is your OC/Naruto Story.**

 **The rest of my darling little savages, R &R and let me know how I'm doing.**

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Morning came swiftly for the young Kage and his advisor as they drank and attempted to talk and plan about what to do next about the civilian girl right before Shikamaru passed out cold in mid sentence.

Disgruntled by the fact that he would have to call it a night and take his friend home so that he could grab some sleep before noon came and he had to return to work.

Especially since Shika would likely be chewed out by Temari for showing back up at home stinking ass drunk as well as passed out. At least until she decided to _not-so-mercifully_ kick his ass out of bed so that she could lecture him on the wonderfully shining example he was setting for their young son before she chased him out of the house.

Paying their tab, Naruto tossed back his last drink and then slowly stood up and gathered his white and orange silk robe that he had taken off at some point during the night due to his body temperature spiking thanks to the alcohol he'd consumed.

Picking it up, he stared at it for a moment thinking of how long he'd wanted to wear the damn thing only to realize just how much he was coming to _hate_ it. And it wasn't the responsibility that he hated, or the cursed paper work he did so damn often. Although he would _still_ swear up and down if asked- that both Tsunade and Kakashi had hexed him when they had both stepped down as Kage.

No- he didn't mind those. Nor did he mind being the leaf village's hero or it's leader. He loved those things, though it often made navigating the world of politics troublesome.

Why at his last summit meeting with the other Kage's, the old cooks (barring Gaara, of course) had demanded that he marry a maiden from each of their villages. To which he had replied, no, upon realizing that the jerks were after an offspring of his in a vain attempt at a power play.

Which had started a little bit of a thing; anyways long story short, Gaara had wound up defending him while Shikamaru had hauled him out of the meeting like his damn pants were on fire.

Come to think of it, Gaara would be coming in another month or so to visit... And he still sort of owed him for his help. Maybe he could figure out something to repay his brother in the time he had- as long as he asked Temari for help when the time came.

No- what he absolutely hated about being Hokage, had more to do with the darker aspects of everything. Crimes, mostly that he didn't know were happening. _Like what had happened to Yuki?_ The thought came unbidden but it was still fresh enough in his mind to upset him all over again, liquor be damned.

He had thought some of the things he'd been through as a child had been bad...but, god had he been wrong. So- So very wrong. He shivered as everything replayed in his mind from beginning to end and felt the razor sharp claws of panic sinking into him. Grabbing on tightly with a death-like grip.

 _Yuki..._ _She was scared_. She was even reliving everything done to her at that moment. He didn't know how he knew, but he did. He could almost taste her terror on his tongue. Could almost smell it as if he were standing right next to her. Her mind was still foggy from the drugs in her system, but she was fighting it.

 _God_ , she was fighting it. Trying to surface and wake when she should have stayed under in a dreamless sleep.

Grabbing Shikamaru he tossed the man over his shoulder and then used his father's flash step technique to get to the hospital where he tossed Shikamaru on the nearest unoccupied gurney and walked on- uncaring that several nurses had found Shika and were currently screaming and carrying on because they thought he was injured or worse.

His mind blocked out all noise, all scents, every presence within the hospital as he silently moved to Yuki's room and opened the door. His azure blue eyes glowing a soft neon as he took in the young woman's appearance with slight shock.

He knew that he had seen her before now since he had been visiting her everyday thus far, but he had never really noticed before just how pretty she was. Despite what Yuki had been put through, it didn't change her haunting beauty. If anything it made her even more lovely.

Knowing just what she could take and what could break her- made her- for lack of a better word, _appealing_ to him. But that wasn't all about her that he found appealing about her.

Since the last time he'd visited Ino must have come by with some of the beauty products she often shared with Sakura. Yuki's skin had been cleaned of all the blood, dirt and grime that had caked her skin so that he could now see the soft ivory color of her flesh which he could faintly smell the scent of lilies wafting from.

Likely from Ino's favorite lily scented lotion.

Stepping into the room, he gently shut the door behind him and slowly, warily, moved to the side of the bed so that he could see her more closely.

Her long dark hair had been washed, cut, trimmed, and thoroughly brushed. He noted with a slight frown, unsure or not of whether or not he disliked that fact. In the video he'd seen, her hair had been nearly waist length jet black tresses. And now- now her hair looked like it had been cut and trimmed and styled to make it look like Kurenai's old hair style.

The length reduced to barely mid back and rested in gentle silken waves and curls around her face, neck and shoulders. Giving her a come hither look that made Naruto want very badly to mess with just to see if it would change how she appeared to him. God knew that his fingers were already twitching, his palms itching- maybe it would help to mess up her new look.

He thought to himself as he brought a hand up to tousle her hair but then stopped just shy of actually touching her. Thinking that it might only make things worse for the both of them.

Him for finding her appealing when he shouldn't.

And her for currently struggling to come out of her drug induced coma- _Oh yeah_ , for a second there he'd forgotten that he could sense her fear. Deciding that as long as he kept his touch light and in an non threatening way- that maybe he'd be able to sooth her enough to help her slip back into unconsciousness before she did some serious damage to herself.

Leaning over her, he placed one hand on the bed beside her slender shoulder and began to speak to her softly. Telling her his name and that she had been found. She was safe.

He felt a brief moment of confusion and disbelief before telling her that, he knew she didn't believe him. But that was only because she wasn't awake yet to get to know him. But he would _make_ her safe.

He swore it to her on his life, that the bastard that had hurt her would never, ever touch her again.

He could still sense her confusion, though it lessened. Along with the panic he'd sensed earlier, though it didn't disappear completely.

Sighing, Naruto did the only thing he could think of next. He asked permission to hold her hand, and upon waiting for an impression of an emotional response from her- he then pulled up the chair that he'd been using lately when he visited her, and sat down and got comfortable before taking her small hand in his own and told her to go ahead and go back to sleep.

He'd stay with her for a while. He felt an emotion from her...gratitude maybe. He wasn't sure. All he knew as he settled back in his chair was the odd feeling of a slight pressure coming from his hand. Only to realize that she had just squeezed it.


	5. Chapter 5

**As requested by MoonGoddess00-**

 **R &R and let me know how I'm doing.**

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Weeks passed since the first time Naruto had felt Yuki's emotions and he was _still_ gleaning thoughts and feelings from her.

And due to that fact, his behavior had become incredibly strange. Even Shikamaru had asked him what the hell was going on the last time he had dropped everything in the middle of a meeting with the village elders to go to the hospital to see Yuki.

Which led to him inevitably contacting Gaara in the hopes that he would perhaps be able to tell him something about the odd occurrences that he'd been experiencing of late.

He had to wait several days for the red headed man to appear, but when he did- he made sure to meet him at the village gates. "Naruto." The red head greeted in his usual affectionate tone as the blond Kage walked up to him and shook his hand before pulling him into a quick hug.

Startling the older man somewhat since Naruto rarely hugged people unless 1) Something was seriously bothering him. 2) Someone close to him was missing and presumed dead. And then there was number 3) Lovers.

Despite Naruto's hero/war hero/Kage status- he had only seriously dated two women in his life. His former teammate Sakura Haruno, whom had ended their relationship to pursue her career as a medic nin. She had left the village for three years and when she had returned she had not only been married, but pregnant with Sauske Uchiha's daughter.

The second woman that Naruto had ever been seriously involved with was Hinata Hyuga. However he had called off their relationship when he had found out that she was engaged to be married to another village's clan head via an arranged marriage planned by her father.

And though Naruto had parted friends with both, he had yet to really find anyone that interested him. Which was part of the reason why everyone with political ties was hounding him to marry and have children. Another reason had more to do with the fact that he was the last of both of his parent's Namikaze/Uzumaki bloodline. And any child born from him was believed by all to be the next greatest future asset.

But that was neither here nor there since he doubted Naruto would ask him to come to the village earlier than expected just to speak of such distasteful things.

No- something was bothering his little brother and he was going to find out what.

With that thought firmly in mind, Gaara kissed Naruto's forehead as he was apt to do when he knew the younger man was upset about something and let the blond pull away from him. "Why is it that you've asked me to come so quickly?" Gaara asked curiously.

He hoped that nothing had happened to his sister or nephew.

Shikamaru he could live without since he didn't really like the fact that he couldn't bully the man into moving away from the leaf village so that he wouldn't have to wait so damn long to see his family.

Naruto looked around, noting the various shinobi and civilians walking the streets around them and hesitantly put a finger to his lips to indicate that he either _couldn't_ or simply _wouldn't_ speak of whatever was bugging him out in the open.

There were far too many people around that could hear, and from the slightly pale color of his face coupled with his worried expression- there was only a few that he would trust with whatever it was weighing so heavily on his mind. Nodding his head in understanding Gaara grabbed his duffle bag and looked at Naruto expectantly and frowned a bit when he noticed that the blond was looking in the direction of the village. His body as tense as a bowstring.

He looked like he was... _hurt_... But that wasn't possible or Gaara would have noticed by now. Besides no one in any of the seven nations would dare to touch Naruto after all he had done for everyone all over the world. And Gaara was fairly certain that if anyone had dared to lay a hand on the blond- that Naruto would have ripped it off and sat down somewhere comfortable to watch them bleed out.

God knew that he had done so before, once while visiting Sauna not long after Gaara's rescue from the Akutsuki.

A very foolish individual had slipped into Gaara's hospital room unaware of the fact that Naruto was staying with him to keep him company- for Gaara's sanity's sake or his own, Gaara would probably never know- all he knew was that the man had slipped in armed and intending to murder him while he was weak only to find himself face to face with one, and this was an understatement- _angry_ blond whom had very promptly kicked the man's ass and then ripped him apart limb from limb.

Gaara had woken up not long after and flicked on the over head light just to almost jump out of his skin at the sight of the bloody broken and beaten body of his would be killer.

Shaking the unpleasant memory aside, Gaara reached out and gently placed his hand on Naruto's shoulder to shake him a little and see if that helped the blond to focus. He'd just traveled for a day in a half at top speed in the dessert. He needed someplace to crash, along with some much needed food and water.

Feeling the hand on his shoulder, Naruto turned his head slightly to glance at Gaara and noted the way the man suddenly dropped his hand away from him and stepped back a bit with an alarmed look on his face.

"Gaara?" Naruto said questioningly as Gaara began to look a little bit scared. Of what he couldn't say since he didn't know what about him could possibly elicit such a reaction from his brother. After all, he should know by now that Naruto would never hurt him.

However before he could say anything else, and assure Gaara of this, the red head grabbed him and put him in a rough almost but not quite choke hold and poofed them both away from the village gates and straight into Naruto's home where he then released the startled blond and slammed a palm against the nearest wall to activate the privacy seals that Naruto had placed around his home and then once that was done, he grabbed the blond again.

This time by the shoulders and shook him as he asked, "When did it happen? Who started it?" Confusing Naruto somewhat until he finally seemed to get what had his brother so rattled.

Something about him was changing. He knew it. He had even felt it before now, but he had thought that he would have a bit more time before it truly showed through on a physical level.

"Gaara... Tell me what is wrong with me." He said softly as he reached up and laid his hands over Gaara's own. The man looked at him as if he thought he was playing some sick game with him before finally realizing that he was completely and utterly serious.

He had no idea what was happening to him.

 _No wonder he's upset._ Gaara thought as he released Naruto's shoulders to scrub his hands over his face before finally saying in an exasperated tone, "Naruto... You're the carrier of the Kyubbi no kitsune- How can you not know that you've been bound?"

"Bound?" Naruto asked still looking confused.

 _God save me from foolish little brothers_ , Gaara thought as he said. "Yes. Bound. As in you've chosen a mate for yourself."

Naruto got a peculiar look on his face. A weird cross between thoughtful and calculating before saying, "But I'm a human. Human's don't choose mates per say."

Gaara made a funny little sound in the back of his throat and growled at him, "They do when they are demon containers!" God he had never wanted to throttle the younger man more than he did at this moment.

"What does that have to do with anything?"

Gaara made a strangled sound before replying, "Instinct."

"Huh?"

"Christ you're so clueless- A demon container's instinct is like a finely honed machine, Naruto. It is neither truly human nor demonic in nature. It's a merger of the two. So when say a particular demon reaches a particular time in it's life- it begins to search, albit sub consciously- for a mate. The mate could be another demon, or in this case- human because you yourself are human. My guess is that Kurama finally found someone who fits all of his requirements to be your mate. The whole goal of having the demon choose someone for you in the first place is that it wants you to breed strong offspring."

Naruto was quiet as Gaara explained things to him, finding it peculiar that the older man was so oddly knowledgeable about this whole 'bound' business. In fact the amount of stuff that he knew about it- details included- gave him the suspicious feeling that perhaps Gaara was or had been, bound at some point in his life.

But to his knowledge, in all the years he'd known the red head- Gaara had been asexual. With absolutely no interest in any girl or woman whatsoever. But if that was true, then how did he know all this stuff?

Was he yanking his chain or something with this whole bound nonsense? Gaara didn't seem the type, plus he was a really bad actor. So maybe the only way that he would know is to ask. Yeah that's it, ask.

"Gaara." The red head stopped talking to look at him for a second. "H-How do you know about this whole bound thing?" Naruto asked, getting the sudden feeling that he should be very nervous about bringing up this subject to his friend.

Gaara blinked at him and looked uncomfortable. Like really, really uncomfortable. Like his former mentally unstable self finding out that his older brother wanted to rape him- kind of uncomfortable. It took a moment or so for Gaara's mind to register his words before he sighed and walked over to the couch and sat down, looking far older than he should have for someone who was just twenty four years old.

"Sit down, Naruto." The red head said quietly, his heart suddenly aching in his chest as he thought of his experience as someone bound. "And I will tell you what you wish to know."

The blond sat down beside him, somehow getting the feeling that he wasn't going to like what Gaara had to say.


	6. Chapter 6

Naruto stared at his brother's pained expression and muttered, "So you killed your..." Gaara looked down at his tightly fisted hands and nodded his head, yes. Knowing that he couldn't very well lie to Naruto now that he was in the same precarious position that he'd found himself in all those years ago.

"I was far too young, immature, and _unstable_ to understand, much less nurture a relationship of that kind with anyone."

Naruto blinked at him and slowly nodded before saying gently. "You don't have to explain yourself to me Gaara."

"I'm not." Gaara said with a slight frown before saying more to himself than Naruto, "Well okay I am," Before tacking on quickly for the blond's benefit, "But that isn't the point. The point that I'm trying to stress here is that isn't going to happen with you. _You_ are emotionally developed to the point where you can do this. _You_ are mature enough to handle nurturing a relationship of this kind."

"Y-You really think so?" Naruto asked, his tone somewhat uncertain as he chewed his bottom lip nervously. Gaara gave Naruto his first real smile since finding out what was wrong with him. It helped to know that Gaara was confident in his ability to do well in this particular area. Even when he was already silently questioning both of their sanity's.

"I am," Gaara said with a slight nod. "I know that you can begin, and nurture a relationship with whomever you are bound to." Naruto's eye brows disappeared under his long bangs as he gave Gaara an incredibly wide eyed look that the red head recognized as his _My-hand-is-stuck-in-the-cookie-jar/I've-been-so-so-bad_ look.

It was the same look that Naruto often got when he visited Sauna and got into some utterly _ridiculous_ sort of mischief that Gaara usually had to save him from. Which caused Gaara's instincts to kick into overdrive as he narrowed his eyes at his brother before asking, "So when can I meet this person?"

At which point Naruto muttered something about needing a drink and promptly walked into the kitchen an began digging around one of his cabinets for his secret stash of sake that had been given to him by both Kakashi and Tsunade when he had first become Hokage.

This was the first time that he had ever seen Naruto touch the stuff in his presence. Which made him more than a little bit curious about why his little brother felt the need for liquor when all he had asked was when he was to meet his chosen mate. After all the only real reason he could think of that would even remotely call for liquor was if Naruto's chosen mate was...ill?

Or possibly even married.

Worried that one or both of those things may somehow apply to his little brother's situation, Gaara was up and over in Naruto's personal space in the blink of an eye, his hands once again on the younger man's shoulders- startling Naruto into accidentally dropping one of the three sake bottles he was holding as Gaara asked, "What is it? What's wrong?"

Naruto didn't answer, he just gave him an awkward twitch, and held up one finger- miraculously managing not to drop anymore sake bottles. Gaara released him long enough to let him put down the sake, and then watched as the blond sort of shuffled around a little bit before saying, "I'll let you see- but no one else is to know. Everything on the disk is personal, and above all- private. _Promise_ me you won't tell anyone unless I give the okay to do so."

Naruto's tone was pleading. Borderline begging.

The Naruto he knew never pleaded or begged for anything unless it was ramen. So whatever it is he was going to share with him was obviously privileged information. Perhaps even highly confidential. Which meant that it was either shinobi/ village related or a high profile crime.

Gaara wasn't sure which he would be more comfortable dealing with, but if it had something to do with Naruto's chosen mate... Then perhaps he was right to suddenly feel worried.

Still, he promised Naruto that he would not speak of what he was to share with him and the blond left- briefly- and returned a short time later with a DVD in hand and then after putting it in his DVD player. And then adjusted the TV so that Gaara could see it- began drinking and non too subtly pushing the spare sake cup and a bottle towards the red head who shot him a quick look of reprimand as the video began playing.

In the first five minutes of watching, Gaara began to look a little green.

In the next twenty minutes, the red head had paled considerably and his hands had begun to shake a bit.

By the very end of the video- Gaara was in the kitchen, leaning over Naruto's sink, dry heaving. And by the time he was done, Naruto had already gotten up and gone and got him a wash cloth and wet it some in the bathroom and then had come back and handed it to him before he started to rub his back, right between his shoulder blades.

Like he usually did whenever he was around and Gaara got sick nowadays.

Once Gaara was sure he wasn't going to be sick anymore, he put the wet rag against his mouth and sighed softly. _Christ, no wonder Naruto is drinking and shit._ Gaara thought darkly. The man could barely function at the moment because of his bound status. But what he'd just seen on the video that Naruto had showed him made things so much worse.

He wasn't sure if Naruto would be able to nurture a relationship with the woman- of any kind now.

Truthfully, he felt more than a little bit unsure of what to do now. On one hand, he wanted Naruto to have the love and happiness that he had desired since he was young. But he wasn't sure if he should continue to encourage his brother to pursue someone romantically who would- and he didn't make this point lightly- in all probability be downright _terrified_ of any male in close proximity to her for a very, very, _very_ long time.

 _What a mess..._


	7. Chapter 7

_What a mess..._ Gaara thought as Naruto maneuvered him over to his dining room table and pulled out a chair for him and then gently pushed him down so that he was finally sitting.

"Drink?" He asked, wondering if Gaara would decide to join him in his vain attempt to forget what he'd just sat through. _Again._ Gaara looked up at the blond and then grunted, his way o telling his brother that he'd join him. But he shouldn't expect him to stick around for hours so that he could drink him under the table.

He wanted no repeats of his one night of binge drinking with the younger man. Not if it meant tattoo parlor's, dying his hair pink and glitter were involved.

Sitting down across from him, Naruto poured him a drink and then poured himself one and tossed it back as Gaara picked his up and sipped it before asking, "So... I'm assuming that what I saw wasn't the whole story. Do you want to tell me the rest?"

Naruto looked at him, his eyes like ice. A rare occurrence that hardly ever happened when he was with someone close to him unless they were treading on dangerous ground. Gaara knew this, so if Naruto did not wish to tell him anything more- he would simply get his information from someone else.

Like... Shikamaru for instance. He worked closely with Naruto on a daily basis and could be able to tell him what Naruto himself wasn't willing too. And if he didn't tell him everything, he was sure that he could arrange for him to disappear for a little while.

His sister may not like that fact if she ever found out. Which she would, cause Shika would toss him to the wolves just to save his own ass from her wrath. Again, he knew this- but he was willing to risk his health and wellbeing to help out his brother.

"You're wanting to know if she's alive?"

Gaara hummed and then elaborated a little bit, "Among other things."

"She is. Alive I mean. She was found in a fiery crater about ten miles outside of the village covered in blood, and other things. Her clothing- or what was left of them, tattered and torn rags. Her wounds had been partially healed..."

"Partially?"

"Her eyes, limbs, and throat." Naruto said roughly as his fingers gripped his sake cup so tightly that he shattered it in his hand. Looking down momentarily with a startled expression on his face, he brushed himself off and then got up and cleaned up the mess and dumped it in the nearest trash can and then went and washed his hands and when he finished, grabbed a more sturdy cup from his cabinet and then returned to his seat as resumed speaking. "They were...better. Fixed. Reattached. And she was found screaming very loudly."

"The one's that found her knocked her out- partially because she was freaking them out and partially because she was injured- and then brought her straight to the hospital where it took Tsunade, and Sakura almost twelve hours to stabilize her condition."

"But she is alive." It was more a question than a statement. And it had Naruto setting aside his sake so that he could reply while he absently played with the rim of his glass.

"She's in a medically induced coma. Has been since that first night. But lately- I've been getting some strange feelings," Gaara cocked his head at him and waited for him to elaborate. "Insanely strong pulls. Like I can sense her mind, her feelings, her confusion, her chaos- She's always so _terrified_ ," Naruto continued his voice coming out sounding choked before he cleared his throat and kept going. "And it usually ends with me by her bedside at the hospital, holding her hand and talking, telling her that I won't ever let anyone hurt her again. And I say it over and over and over until I loose my voice."

"I never experienced that when I was bound."

"Well to be fair Gaara, back then, you had a _lot_ of voices in your head."

Gaara shrugged but said nothing of Naruto's comment. It wasn't like Naruto was wrong. Besides, he knew that his brother wasn't trying to offend or hurt his feelings. Besides, anyone that knew Naruto personally knew that his mouth sometimes tended to run away from him.

"Do you feel anything from her now?" He asked curiously. Naruto closed his eyes for a moment and took several deep breaths before replying.

"She's resting right now. Dreaming. I get the impression that she tried to check up on me earlier when I met you at the gate because she could sense my worry. And it was distressing to her. But she calmed and grew tired. She'll expect me to go see her later." Naruto finally said as he slowly opened his eyes to look at Gaara.

"Fascinating. I hope you know I'm going with you."

Naruto nodded, although he wasn't sure how exactly he was supposed to feel about that fact. But he supposed that under the circumstances, it was understandable.


	8. Chapter 8

Shortly afterwards, Gaara sat with Naruto as he ate the modest lunch he had made for the both of them, knowing that Gaara's stomach might not be able to hold anything bigger in portions. But the food was shockingly well done for someone as hung up on ramen as Naruto was.

And the simple seafood, pasta and soup dishes were quickly becoming some of Gaara's new favorites.

Sitting across from the older man, Naruto worked on forcing himself to chew and swallow what he had in his mouth but was finding it more than a bit difficult due to the fact that his focus was across the village. With Yuki. Who strangely had begun to surface from her drugged sleep- again- an was bombarding his mind with snippets and impressions of information so quickly that it was almost terrifying.

Everything was moving so fast in his head that it was beginning to blur together like some psychedelic kaleidoscope that a kid would win at a carnival.

And then suddenly, just as he thought his skull was going to explode- it all stopped rather abruptly and Naruto felt his consciousness fade just a tad. No more than when he decided to try meditating. And he found himself in an entirely different place.

Expecting at first for Kurama to appear, Naruo was more than a little stunned when he saw Yuki appear out of some swirling mist that had been winding it's way around his legs like writhing vines. Or snakes. He wasn't sure which they gave him the stronger impression of. But it was damned creepy.

Yet the mist didn't seem to bother Yuki at all as she stood several feet from him, her expression wary as she softly asked, "Who are you?"

Figuring that seeing another person in one's head was trippy enough for her, he decided to see how things played out before their little visit ended.

"I'm Naruto."

She frowned a little bit before saying, "You're the one who visits me."

He smiled at the fact that she had somehow miraculously managed to match his face to his name. "Yes. I am."

"Thanks. I-I always feel a bit better when you're around." Yuki said with a hesitant, albeit awkward little smile that had Naruto's heart doing this weird little jump in his chest that had his mouth going dry and his palms suddenly beginning to sweat.

"Happy to help." Naruto said with a smile. His azure eyes sparkling with some unnamed or rather- _unnoticed_ emotion as his smile fades some and he asked, "Did you need something Yuki?"

Her smile faded a little bit too, and fuck, but he hated seeing it go. She looked so beautiful when she smiled. Like some part of her was still untouched by the horrors that she had experienced. "I tried to reach you before because..."

"Because?"

"I think I could _feel_ something wrong. And you were upset."

"So you wanted to check on me."

"I-I guess." Yuki said, her soft ivory skin taking on a light rose pink hue that was wonderfully fetching on her. Lips twitching in silent amusement, Naruto couldn't help but think how adorable she looked when she was being all shy and embarrassed.

"There's nothing to be embarrassed about. It's normal to worry about others." He assured her as he crossed his arms over his chest. "Did you need anything else?" He asked after a moment or so. Yuki was quiet for a moment or so before asking in a small, almost child like tone of voice.

"Will you visit me again today?"

Naruto smiled again and felt his heart do that same weird little jump from before. "Yeah. I'll visit you again today..."

"Okay!" Yuki said almost excitedly before turning as if to leave, causing Naruto to reach out instinctively and grasp her slender shoulder's in his large hands. Stopping her cold in her tracks while he himself froze up and for a moment wasn't sure how to react to having his hands touching her.

He usually only gave the minimum amount of physical contact. Nothing more than the barest of touches or brushes from his fingertips because he worried so much that he may be somehow causing her harm.

And now- well, he had reacted before he could actually think of anything else to make her stop, so he worried about what the impact of their physical contact just now may have done to her. However before he could move to retract his hands and release her, he felt the slight contact of her smaller body leaning back into him just a tad.

Not much, but he wasn't so blind that he didn't know what such an action meant.

She was drawing strength and comfort from him. He could feel it in the calm and steady breaths she took, in the way her body went from tense to relaxed in the blink of an eye. He felt the whirlwind of her emotions brushing at his mind like butterfly wings before fluttering into nothingness as he muttered,

"Ah, sorry. I-I just wanted to let you know that when I come to see you today, I'll be bringing a friend with me. He's very nice, and you don't need to be scared of him. He's curious because I've been talking about you with him. And he wanted to meet you."

Yuki listened quietly for him to stop rambling before nodding her head in understanding and then vanished from the mind scape.

Freeing Naruto of her grasp long enough to realize that something was wrong. His hand hurt.

Looking down at said appendage, he scowled when he saw that there was a fork stuck in him and growled menacingly as his eyes shot a death glare at the overly innocent looking red head across from him.

"Gaara. Why do I have a fork stuck in my hand?"

"You checked out and for a second I thought you just weren't paying attention to me when I started talking to you so I stabbed you with the fork. But I think I miscalculated how deep it went." Gaara said with a slight huff as he glared at the offending piece of silver.

Naruto made another growling sound and muttered something about bleeding on the table and then got up and left the room, yanking the fork out of his hand as he went.


	9. Chapter 9

True to his word, later that evening after Naruto had finished visiting with him and left his home for a little bit so that Gaara could get some sleep- and he, of course, went straight to the tower to do some much needed work. Where he found Shika and Sakura standing outside his office waiting for him.

That had been a fun meeting.

 _Not_.

What with Sakura coming to report on Yuki's progress, and the fact that she and Tsunade felt that it was time to let the girl wake up. _Despite the fact that she is far from healed. Waking Yuki now could prove to be catastrophic._ Naruto thought with a slightly grim shake of his head as he opened the door to his home to find Gaara sitting on his couch with one of Naruto's books in his hands. He'd apparently taken advantage of his shower. Since his hair was still slightly damp and he was wearing a fresh set of clothing.

A black shirt and loose fitting pants and his usual calf length scarlet over shirt with the buckles.

"Sleep well?"

Gaara's attention shifted from his book to the blond as he entered the house and quietly closed the door behind him. The red head nodded his head before asking, "Work?"

"The usual. Aside from my visit from Sakura." Naruto replied as h walked past him while shrugging off his silk robes. He needed a shower, shave, and some food in his stomach- _badly_. Especially if he wanted to appear half assed decent when he met Yuki face to face later.

"Sakura?"

Naruto hummed in response to the half spoken question as he grabbed a soda out of his fridge and opened it and then took a good long drink while Gaara turned around on the couch to look at him expectantly. Waiting for him to answer his one worded question.

Naruto lowered his drink from his lips and swallowed what was in his mouth before saying, "She came to report on Yuki's progress. Apparently she and Tsunade want to bring her out of her coma now. Tonight."

Garra's hairless eyebrows rose and his expression was one of total shock for a moment before shifting to outrage. After which the red head got to his feet and moved to stand a few inches from Naruto. His aqua eyes unblinking as he stared at Naruto and waited for him to say something.

Anything really about the whole damn subject. But the blond simply finished his drink and then turned back to the fridge and began pulling things out of it.

"Naruto? You did tell her that it wasn't a good idea right?" Gaara asked after several moments, knowing the his brother was likely trying to avoid the issue while he could.

Naruto paused mid way between laying some sandwich meats on the counter along with the pickle jar, lettuce, tomato, and mayonnaise was and just looked at him.

Of course he had told Sakura that it wasn't time to wake Yuki. However his friend was stubborn and refused to listen to him unless he could provide a reason why. And Naruto had just clammed up, trying to carefully weigh the pro's and the con's while trying to decide what to do.

In the end he hadn't been able to give Sakura any reason that she couldn't explain away or treat medically. So maybe he was worried for nothing. But then again, what if she woke up scared to the point where she became a danger to herself or others? What if she suffered some sort of psychotic break?

These were just a few of the questions he'd been asking himself since Sakura had left his office today. And frankly he was growing weary of second guessing himself and his friends. Tsunade and Sakura were both trained medical professionals. What Sakura lacked in experience, Tsunade more than compensated for.

And both women were more than competent at their jobs so... Naruto knew, deep down, no matter how much he personally disliked it- that he was going to have to rely on their medical expertise where Yuki was concerned. And just hope that he could be of some use if the girl did come undone in some way.

"Naruto?"

"I did." Naruto said as he slowly laid everything out on the counter. "But Sakura and Tsunade have both talked it over and decided that her body is healed enough to wake her up."

"But what about her mind?"

"I don't know. There's a good chance that we won't know until she is awake and has been evaluated."

"I see," Was all Gaara said, his tone, though still fairly normal was slightly colored with disappointment. In him? Or Sakura and Tsunad? Naruto didn't know. He'd probably never really know to tell the truth. "Then what is it that you plan to do?" Gaara asked after a heartbeat or so of silence.

"I plan to eat something then go shower and shave and change into something decent." Gaara frowned at him and Naruto felt his hackles rise a bit before snapping in a defensive tone, "What? You expect me to introduce myself to my mate like this?" He indicated to the coffee stains on his shirt, the ink on his fingers, and the slight smudges of black that he somehow got on his face.

Probably after touching something wet and then rubbing his face.

Gaara made a funny sound that was almost strangely like a laugh as he shrugged his shoulders. He supposed that his little brother had a good point. If he were in Naruto's position he certainly wouldn't let his mate meet him for the first time looking so haggard and unkept.

It may leave a bad impression and scare said mate away.

"Your right," He said after a moment. "You do need to clean yourself up."

Naruto paused in mid reach for the bread and shot him an offended glare. "Thanks Gaara. I don't know what I'd do without you."

"I've decided that without me you'd wither away into nothing but a shell of a man." Gaara said only half jokingly. Naruto rolled his eyes at him but otherwise remained silent. He needed to stop letting Gaara distract him or he'd never get to the hospital to see Yuki.


	10. Chapter 10

A little under an hour later, Naruto and Gaara were walking down the semi crowded streets of Konoha. Naruto, fresh from his shower. His jaw cleanly shaven, his clothes fresh, clean and absolutely stain free for once.

And his blond hair, which hung just a little past his shoulders and was tied back into a ponytail at his nape while the rest of his normally wild looking locks hung in his azure blue eyes and framed his whiskered face in a- handsome? Flattering?- way that reminded Gaara slightly of the late fourth hokage.

Naruto's father, Namikaze Minato, whom he had finally had the pleasure of meeting during the fourth shinobi war.

All in all, Naruto had grown up to be as much a masculine beauty as his late father had been. Though thanks to his hair being longer, he had a little bit of a wilder look to him than Minato ever had. Which suited the kitsune container just fine since the look sort of went with his personality.

After all he was the number one unpredictable ninja. And part of what made him so unpredictable was the kitsune demon sealed within him.

AS they walked, Naruto scanned the faces of the people around him on the streets subconsciously in a habit that Gaara suspected came from his days growing up alone in the village. So to try and take his mind off of things, Gaara began to talk to his friend.

"Do you think Yuki will be nice?"

"I think that even after everything she's been through, she'll wake up afraid."

"Why do you say that?"

"Because I know that I would. She simply won't be able to help it. She doesn't know what has happened to her. And what she recalls will be a hellish nightmare." Naruto replied simply. Trying to answer Gaara without being hurtful. He knew that his friend was excited to meet the girl he was bound to. After all this wasn't the first time in Gaara's life that he was attempting to live vivaciously through him.

"You're right. I didn't think of that... Perhaps I should stay outside the room. You know, to keep the number of people around her from being too overwhelming."

"You wanted to come. So you're coming." Naruto said as he turned his head just enough to shoot the red head a vexed look that had Gaara laughing softly.

"Very well, since you insist so adamantly. I will go." Gaara said in a amused tone that Naruto missed as he was mentally going over what would have to be done once Yuki was awake.

Depending on how bad off she was, she wouldn't be allowed to live by herself for a while. Everyone would expect him to assign someone to stay with her for a few months or more. Mostly to make sure that she wasn't a danger to herself and others while attempting to help her adapt to life in the village.

"What are you thinking?" Gaara's voice suddenly cut through his thoughts. Nearly causing him to jump out of his skin as he turned his eyes to his friend once again and made a small show of baring his teeth at him as he let out a low growl. Further amusing Gaara if that was even humanly possible.

Naruto wasn't sure what he found more frustrating. Gaara's weird sense of humor or the fact that everyone was always bitching about how the man never smiled or laughed.

Frankly they obviously didn't have anything funny about them if they couldn't make the once somber young man so much as crack a grin. Whereas Naruto just had to turn his head a certain way and Gaara would practically bust a gut.

Like he said, the red head's sense of humor _was_ frustrating.

"I was just thinking about Yuki and what would have to be done depending, of course, on how bad off she is mentally after her harrowing ordeal." Naruto said after a moment or so of hesitation.

"Oh?"

"Yeah."

"And what have you come up with?"

"She may need someone to live with her for a little while... To make sure that she isn't a danger to herself or others and to help her adapt to life in the village."

"You could put the Anbu on it."

Naruto waved his hand and made a non committal sound. "All Anbu units were disbanded when I became Hokage. We have the village special forces units... But they aren't exactly the same. They're a military based unit and work as such, placing them on the watch of a girl who may or may not be dangerous in some way- or possibly have other things wrong with her- would inevitably lead to her being murdered. And since I'm bound to her as you have said, I don't care much for such an ugly outcome. No. I think if someone needs to live with her and watch her and help her then it should be me."

"But you're the Hokage."

"Yes. But I'm also a man bound to another human being. Who better to take care of her and help her when she needs it than someone who just might be able to help her in other ways too?"

"Hn. I never thought of it that way." Gaara said as they turned the corner and began their trek to the hospital's front entrance where Gaara took a moment to switch topics on his old friend and asked how Sauske was doing causing Naruto to turn his head just enough to glare at him before he muttered.

"Gaara."

"Hn?"

"Shut up."

Which basically told the Kazekage everything he wanted to know. Sauske was still hanging around the outer borders of the leaf village being a pain in Naruto's ass.

 _Alright._ Gaara thought with a small shrug of his shoulders as he became silent for the moment like Naruto had wished him too as the two men entered the hopsital's doors.


	11. Chapter 11

Sakura stood just outside of Yuki's hospital room patiently waiting for Naruto to show when she finally saw him and...Gaara? walking up. "Finally. You're here." The pinkette groused as her friend walked up to her and gave her a blank look. "I swear you walk around the village as if you were ancient or something." Sakura said playfully as she waved to Gaara and got a small smile from the Kazekage in return as Naruto finally said,

"Maybe I wouldn't walk around like I was ancient if your bastard husband would _stop_ trying to rip my damn head off every time he sees me."

Sakura snickered knowing that Naruto wasn't actually upset about such occurrences. In fact the last time he and Sauske had sparred, he had been the one to actually attempt to rip something off of Sauske. And he had partially succeeded too. Her poor husband was still walking with a slight limp from what Naruto had done to him.

So the fact that he was attempting any sort of revenge even in the smallest of ways was more than a little bit understandable. But that didn't mean that she was going to let Naruto's little jib slide.

"Well maybe my husband is trying to pay you back for giving him that nice limp of his."

"Still on about that, huh."

"Mm-hn."

"Never going to let me live it down?"

"Nope."

"Then I should have killed the teme while I had the chance." Naruto said, wise to her little game. Sakura gave him a look that bespoke of terrible things happening to his person. Things that even Sauske wouldn't do to him, but he knew good and well that Sakura would if she caught him walking alone in the village anytime soon.

Scrunching up his nose a little bit as he walked past, he heard Gaara whisper. "You should have done what you always do, this time around, and simply pretended that you had tourette's."

To which Naruto muttered in response, "Who's pretending?"

Gaara blinked at Naruto's back and whispered a little louder in shock, "What?" To which he heard Naruto parrot back the word as if he had lost him somewhere along the conversation or something. Sakura merely looked at the two of them as she entered the hospital room and rolled her eyes at the two.

Honestly between Naruto's 'fake tourettes' habit and Gaara's pretending not to have a sense of humor, she could write a book on their dysfunction. She could call it, Which Kage is which? A possible biography of two weirdos. Or something. Hell if all else failed then she could simply ask her husband to name the book.

But knowing him it would be something along the lines of, Even dobe's put their pants on one leg at a time. A dummies guide to doing just that.

Come to think of it, she could write one and Sauske could write the other. She was sure that between the two of them they would make millions world wide.

Naruto stood by Yuki's bedside taking note of various things. Things like the paleness of her skin, the fact that she looked almost...skeletal from being unconscious and unable to eat. As well as the feeding tube pumping a light blue substance straight into her stomach.

"Sakura, should she look like this?" He asked with a slight frown.

"No," Sakura said as she came over to the bed and looked down at the girl. "To be honest apart from her wounds finally being healed, _this_ is why we need to wake her. Between the feeding tube and mine and Ino's chakra being pumped into her periodically- she should have only lot two or three pounds. Instead we've recorded that as of yesterday, she's lost almost eleven. We need to wake her so that she can start regaining some of the weight before she literally wastes away to nothing."

"How long do you think that will take?" Naruto asked.

"Not long. I've recruited some help from Teuchi and Choji's mom. I've specifically asked the two to work on a few high calorie dishes that are easy on the stomach. Both have already come up with five dishes apiece that have been tested and seem to be working for the people that they were tested on. So...I have fairly high hopes that she should regain about five or more pounds before we release her as long as she eats the stuff that was made for her."

"How long?" Naruto asked again causing Sakura to sigh at his single mindedness.

"A week would be pushing things a bit. Especially since once the feeding tube is removed her stomach may be a bit off for several days. So maybe a week in a half to two weeks. After which she will have to come back every other day or so to do physical therapy." Naruto looked at Sakura funny for a moment as she went on to explain. "She's going to have to be in a wheel chair for a little while Naruto. Just until she can work on her muscles since they are very weak."

"Oh." Naruto said as he turned his head to look at Gaara who seemed to understand what Naruto wished and nodded his head in understanding.

Yeah, he was staying for a while. And no- he had nothing better to do.

Would he help his friend fix up his apartment to make it more wheelchair friendly? Of course he would, in fact, why was he just standing around the hospital? He should be going to buy boards and nails and a hammer or two. Especially since Naruto would likely join him once he left here.

Curiosity satiated for the moment, Gaara began to plan as he patted himself down and froze up when he found his wallet missing.

Being mere moments away from backtracking (and planning the possible demise of many, many possibly innocent people in the process) he was about to say something when Naruto held up his hand, with his wallet in it. Blinking his aqua eyes, he turned his head to look at his friend with a slightly puzzled look on his face as Naruto said absently.

"I took it last night because you have a habit of losing it."

"Hn." Was the only thing that the red head could manage to say since Naruto wasn't exactly wrong about that. Still...that wasn't an excuse for his friend to pick his pocket. Even if he was only trying to help. So, yeah... A punishment was in order here. And Gaara had just the perfect one.

"I hope you know that I'm cooking today." He said in a miffed tone causing Naruto blanch a little bit and turn his head to stare at him in utter horror before looking over at Sakura and making a whimpering sound that was just so utterly _pathetic_ for the hero of the known shinobi world.

Which was perhaps what Sakura found so funny as she said, "Fix him vegetable's Gaara. He's been avoiding them again."

"Oh I fully intend too." The red head growled as he took his wallet from the panicking blond and then stormed out of the room to go buy some stuff. Leaving Naruto behind with the laughing pinkette.

The Kazekage must have gotten half way down the hall before he heard Naruto's voice practically shout, "What the fuck Sakura? Are you trying to get me killed?"

"His cooking isn't that bad." Sakura said between fits of hysterical giggles.

"Not that- Not that bad! Sakura, his cooking is like one of Orochimaru's science experiments! Only with food. It's terrifying the things he can do in a kitchen!"


	12. Chapter 12

"Are you ready to begin now?" Sakura asked when she had finally sobered up from laughing at Naruto's panick stricken face after Gaara had left after promising to make him eat vegetables later on for dinner. The blond looked up at her and for a moment she saw a flicker of something in his eyes that she had rarely seen since his academy days.

Uncertainty? From mister _I-defy-all-odds-and-laugh-in-the-face-of-fate_?

 _How odd_. Sakura thought to herself as he seemed to mentally shake himself free of whatever worries, doubts and concerns that had momentarily plagued him as he muttered with a slight frown, "Was that a rhetorical question?"

Sakura said nothing as she fixed a syringe and carefully injected the contents into Yuki's IV before reaching out and then unhooked one of the bags of partially gone fluid that had been attached to the young woman and then stood back. "The drug should take effect within a few minutes to an hour. Give or take a little bit. Let's see, it's about five now. So she should wake up around six or six thirty."

Rubbing his face with his hands, Naruto sighed and then sat down and made himself comfortable as Sakura told him that she had to leave for the time being but she'd return as soon as she could and then left him alone.

Naruto looked over at Yuki, his azure blue eyes studying her almost skeletal features with an unreadable expression on his face as anger welled up in his chest.

 _Damn hospital_. He inwardly seethed. Thanks to the medically induced coma Yuki had been placed in, her physical heath had deteriorated to almost the point of no return.

Sitting forward slightly in his seat, he rested his elbows on his knees and laced his fingers together in front of his mouth and tried to think of a way to help Yuki out so that she healed that much sooner. He was casually going over things in his mind before he finally realized the answer to helping her.

Sakura had mentioned that she and Ino had been giving her some of their chakra in an attempt to stave off the deterioration of her body as she healed. But apparently their chakra was too weak, or simply not enough to sustain her physically.

 _Could I?_ He wondered as he looked down at his own hands before narrowing his blue eyes to slits. _Should I try?_ He wondered as it occurred to him all of the terrible things that could go wrong if he gave her too much of his chakra. He could fry her insides. Rupture organs. Cause severe internal bleeding.

Even death.

 _Fuck that. She's dead if she continues to deteriorate anyways._

At least with his chakra pumping through her she would stand a little bit of a better chance of surviving long enough to get better. It would also create a more concrete bond between them that would allow him to keep tabs on her even over a distance.

Which would make knowing when she was in trouble or danger much easier. But he worried that there may be adverse affects to having his chakra pumping through her system as well. He simply wasn't sure what they might be. But so far the pros far outweighed the cons.

Getting up out of his chair, he moved as close as he could to the bed and very gently reached out and lay his hands on her and began to focus his chakra as he started to speak to her in a soft almost coaxing tone. Telling her what he was doing and why.

Letting her know that he was going to take care of her, and that she was going to be alright.

He refused to admit even to himself that he may very well fail in his endeavor to help her. Especially after the hell she had gone through. And yet her mind had seemed strangely intact when he had had contact with her before in his mindscape before. Something that he hadn't expected, but was secretly pleased about nevertheless.

Focusing his mind, he reached out to hers and found what he was looking for easily enough.

The trail leading to her mindscape wasn't like anything akin to his own. Her mind didn't consist of pipes and dripping water. No, her mind was a filled with different places and depths that confused him as he navigated his way through it until he found her.

Yuki was laying on her back on the ground under what looked like a large tree covered in red, yellow and vivid orange leaves. Her strange clothing looked old and dirty and were ripped and torn in various places. Her long dark hair was fanned out around her head and she appeared to be sleeping.

A rarity to be sure, especially since most people didn't feel the need to rest in their mindscape.

Kneeling down next to her, Naruto reached out and brushed some of her dark hair back away from her face causing her to twitch and stir slightly. A soft groan escaping her sot pink lips.

"What?"

"Wake up." He said softly as she opened her eyes slightly and stared at him with a small frown.

"Naruto? What are you doing here?" She asked curiously despite how tired she appeared to be to him.

"I need you to wake up." He said again as she looked as if she were on the verge of falling back asleep. She closed her eyes again and Naruto sighed as he reached out again and this time pinched her sharply causing her to bolt upright with a startled yelp.

"Ouch! You son of a bit-" Naruto silenced her easily enough by laying his fingers against her lips and glowering at her for a moment to show his displeasure at being cursed at.

"I don't have a lot of time and I need you to listen to me carefully," He began before he started talking again. "Your body is on the verge of death and I'm trying to help you, but I can't do it if you're asleep and unreceptive to my actions."

"Huh?"

"Nothing, just give me your hands and don't let go until I say so." Naruto said quickly as he held his hands out to her and patiently waited for her to take them so that he could well and truly begin to heal her.


End file.
